"Copier Goes Upmarket." Paper Facts & Figures 28
#166, July-Aug. 1989, pp. 16-2 . The constraints on what kind of
paper can be used successfully in copiers and laser printers are
relaxing. New forms of surface treatments and smoother sheets mean
that the problem of combining watermarked papers with laser copiers
have been resolved, and the properties associated with watermarked
papers can now be linked with the market copier papers: prestige,
company identification and especially security. Rank Xerox have
just launched a new line of laid copier paper throughout Europe. (In
1972 Verner Clapp suggested watermarking permanent paper to identify
it; the Finnish standard for permanent paper, SFS 5453, requires a
watermark for "permanent papers for writing" that gives the number
of the paper, manufacturer or acronym and year of production; and
this method of identifying paper that meets permanence standards
might be useful in this country too. Watermarked paper can be used
for all purposes. Most watermarks today are not made with dandy
rolls, but with a transparentizing solution that does not affect the
thickness of the sheet.)

"Will the 1990s be the Alkaline Decade?" by Janice Bottiglieri.
PIMA, Dec. 1989, p. 18-20. An article based largely on
interviews with advocates of permanent paper and manufacturers of
alkaline paper. "The impact of this kind of pressure [from
permanence advocates] an the alkaline market as a whole seem
limited, however. In fact, none of the information PIMA Magazine
received from various advocacy groups, including the NYPL, was
printed on alkaline paper." Suppliers are interviewed too: Steve,
Walkden of Hercules, Barbara Wortley of General Chemical, Terry
Gallagher of Nalco, Thomas W. Daly of Omya, and Phil Pennartz of
Procomp. Market penetration in Europe is given as 50-60%., and the
halfway mark for conversion of uncoated free-sheet is expected to be
reached by 1992.

ASTM D 4988-89, "Standard Test Method for Determination of
Calcium Carbonate Content of Paper," was published in November 1989,
and is available from ASTM , 1916 Race St., Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215/299-5400).

"New Momentum for Alkaline Papermakers," by Stephen A. Walkden.
Tappi Journal, Nov. 1989, P. 8. By 1993, he says, 52%
of uncoated freesheet production is forecast to be alkaline. The
way alkaline papermaking is meeting the challenge of new printing
technologies is briefly described.

One of the earliest, if not the earliest, announcements in print
of the use of alkylketene dimers for sizing appeared in the January
1956 TAPPI. It is historically significant e AKD made production of
sized alkaline papers commrcially possible:

The long curing time is mentioned, but not any problem with
retention. The paper was originally given at a TAPPI meeting in New
York City, Feb. 21-24, 1955.

"Het Behoud van ons Nationale Beheugen" (The Preservation of our
National Memory) is a 72-page booklet reporting the results of a
survey of about 100 Dutch libraries m the conditions of their
collections. The survey was carried out by an advisory council set
up in 1987 to advise the government on all matters concerning
libraries and information services (much like our National
Commission on Libraries and Information Science). About 20% of the
libraries indicated that 25%-80% of their collections are in
imminent danger. Recommendations are included in the 4-page
English-language "S and Recommendations." The address of the
advisory council, RABIN, is PO Box 95341, 2509 CH The Hague, The
Netherlands, teleph. (31) 70 47 13 44.

"State Government Records Program: A Proposed National Agenda!'
is a four-page report issued in November by the National Association
of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA). It
describes 11 elements of a broad national agenda, of which #7 is
"Preservation of Archival Records." In this section a number of
standard preservation actions are recomended, including the use of
acid-free paper for state government publications and records of
enduring value. "Use of long-lasting paper," it says, "will help
prevent the continuing growth of the preservation problem as new
records are produced." For more information, contact Bruce W.
Dearstyne, Executive Director of NAGARA, New York State Archives,
Room 10A75 Cultural Education Center, Albany, NY 12230
(518/473-8037).

A printing supplier who is most generous with technical
information, including some that relates to interaction the paper,
ink, water and plate, is Rosos Research Laboratories, in Lake Bluff,
Illinois. They sell chemicals for offset printing, a pocket
conductivity meter ($100) and a pH pen that appears to be filled
with bromcresol purple, which turns yellow about pH 4.0 and purple
about pH 6.0. Phone: 312/295-1331.